About e-pistulae
What is it?
e-pistulae is a digital reanimation of Marcus Tullius Cicero, where subscribers are sent my translations of his letters as emails on the date each letter was originally written. In its first incarnation e-pistulae followed Cicero from the summer of 45 BCE up to his death in 43 BCE. It is now travelling further back in time to 58 BCE, when Cicero was exiled from Rome. Cicero Did Not Enjoy This At All.
Who is Cicero?
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BCE) was a lawyer, orator, politician, philosopher, and author. He was elected to the consulship, Rome’s highest elected office, in 63 BCE, at the youngest possible age, despite being a novus homo (new man), who had no senatorial ancestry. During his year as consul he uncovered and suppressed the (alleged) Catilinarian conspiracy, causing the (alleged) leader Catilina to flee from Rome, and executing the other (alleged) conspirators. In 58 BCE Cicero was exiled by his enemy Clodius on the pretext of the illegality of executing Roman citizens without trial.
You can read Plutarch’s biography of Cicero here, and Cornelius Nepos’ biography of Cicero’s closest friend and frequent correspondent Atticus here.
Notes on the Text
e-pistulae is translated from Latin by me. It follows Shackleton Bailey’s edition of the text, as well as (most of the time) his chronology of the letters.
Each letter is followed by a link to the Latin text, a link to the in-progress glossary of people and places, and brief explanatory notes. If you know something interesting that isn’t in the notes, feel free to add it as a comment. If you notice an error, please tell me! If you are Shackleton Bailey’s ghost, please leave me alone!
Resources
Collection of public domain Loebs, including Cicero’s Ad Atticum and Ad Familiares
Cornelius Nepos’ Life of Atticus
Historia Civilis video on the year of Cicero’s consulship
‘Where is Cicero?’ Mapping project by Ryan Warwick
This is the place where I say thank you to Resident Cicero Expert Kathryn Stutz, without whom this would not exist, the author and artist of the Dead Romans Society for illustrating a miserable Cicero for me, and Cicero himself for being so necromanceable :-)
